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Latest episodes from The Diction Police

Episode 115-SDU Tutorial (audio)

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2018 19:11


In this episode, Jason Nedecky is back to talk about unstressed vowels, the consonant cluster 'str', and triphthongs, using Purcell's "Strike the viol". The Diction Police website offers phonetic transcripts of texts, with word-for-word and poetic translations, text readings by native speaking opera professionals, along with a variety of video tutorials that are useful for both professional singers and for teachers to supplement their diction classes. The Diction Police was founded on the principal of native speakers pronouncing and discussing the diction of their own languages, and we continuously strive to offer the highest quality lyric diction resource possible. Over the past 9 years of the podcast, we've now comprehensively covered the four main singing languages as well as many others, so from now on we'll be releasing new episodes less regularly and only cover special topics, such as rare languages and dialects. All the previous episodes of the podcast will be available on iTunes and at the website, and all of our other resources and materials will still be available on the website through individual and studio subscriptions and now also through university library subscriptions! Talk to your teacher about getting a subscription for your school or inquire for more information at info@dictionpolice.com

Episode 115-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2018 19:11


In this episode, Jason Nedecky is back to talk about unstressed vowels, the consonant cluster 'str', and triphthongs, using Purcell's "Strike the viol". The Diction Police website offers phonetic transcripts of texts, with word-for-word and poetic translations, text readings by native speaking opera professionals, along with a variety of video tutorials that are useful for both professional singers and for teachers to supplement their diction classes. The Diction Police was founded on the principal of native speakers pronouncing and discussing the diction of their own languages, and we continuously strive to offer the highest quality lyric diction resource possible. Over the past 9 years of the podcast, we've now comprehensively covered the four main singing languages as well as many others, so from now on we'll be releasing new episodes less regularly and only cover special topics, such as rare languages and dialects. All the previous episodes of the podcast will be available on iTunes and at the website, and all of our other resources and materials will still be available on the website through individual and studio subscriptions and now also through university library subscriptions! Talk to your teacher about getting a subscription for your school or inquire for more information at info@dictionpolice.com

Diction Tip #33

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2018 2:20


Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #33, Jason Nedecky talks about the long vowels that occur in British Received Pronunciation and explains why we don't need to mark them in phonetic transcripts. For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of our Facebook page or you can find all of our Diction Lessons, Diction Tips and Tongue Twisters for Singers at www.dictionpolice.com!

Episode 114-SDU Tutorial (audio)

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 8, 2018 24:30


In Episode 114, Jason Nedecky leads us through the text to Purcell's "What can we poor females do?", talking about long vowels, the Daniel Sitteth rule, and the difference between the [ʌ] vowel and [ə].    For more information, go to dictionpolice.com ! 

Episode 114-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 8, 2018 24:32


In Episode 114, Jason Nedecky leads us through the text to Purcell's "What can we poor females do?", talking about long vowels, the Daniel Sitteth rule, and the difference between the [ʌ] vowel and [ə].    For more information, go to dictionpolice.com ! 

Diction Tip #32

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2018 3:34


Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #32, Dr. François Germain explains the spellings 'u' [y] and 'ou' [u] in French. For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of our Facebook page or you can find all of our Diction Lessons, Diction Tips and Tongue Twisters for Singers at www.dictionpolice.com!

Episode 113-SDU Tutorial (audio)

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2018 25:44


It's the start of the opera season and the school year in most places, and we're kicking off our 9th Season with Dr. François Germain! Using Duparc's "Phydilé", we focus on the final schwas in French, the '–ill' and '–il' spellings, plus the pronunciation of the third person plural as opposed to the gerund form in verb conjugations.   For more information, go to dictionpolice.com ! 

Episode 113-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2018 25:44


It's the start of the opera season and the school year in most places, and we're kicking off our 9th Season with Dr. François Germain! Using Duparc's "Phydilé", we focus on the final schwas in French, the '–ill' and '–il' spellings, plus the pronunciation of the third person plural as opposed to the gerund form in verb conjugations.   For more information, go to dictionpolice.com ! 

Diction Tip--Russian Series #4

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2018 6:48


Conductor and coach Yury Ilinov explains the tricky concept of "palatalization", the "softening" of consonants in Russian, as part of our mini-series on Russian Lyric Diction!

Diction Tip--Russian Series #3

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 7, 2018 5:00


While the podcast is on vacation for the summer, we wanted to bring you something special--a short series of Diction Tips on Russian Lyric Diction! In this third installment, conductor and coach Yury Ilinov explains the concepts of "ekanye" and "ikanye", the reduction of certain vowels in unstressed syllables.

Diction Tip--Russian Series #2

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 23, 2018 5:15


While the podcast is on vacation for the summer, we wanted to bring you something special--a short series of Diction Tips on Russian Lyric Diction! In the second installment, conductor and coach Yury Ilinov explains the concepts of "akanye" and "okanye".

Diction Tip--Russian Series #1

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2018 4:51


While the podcast is on vacation for the summer, we wanted to bring you something special--a short series of Diction Tips on Russian Lyric Diction! In the first installment, conductor and coach Yury Ilinov compares the 'и' [i] and 'ы' [ɨ] vowels, and gives us some exercises to practice [ɨ]!

Episode 112-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2018 23:37


This will be our last episode for this season, and we wanted to do something special—so this will be our first Russian episode with a video tutorial! Ekaterina Sapega-Klein leads us through the text to Olga's aria from Yevgeniy Onegin, talking about devoicing consonants, palatalized consonants, and what happens when a soft sign meets a vowel that starts with a j-glide.  In the episode I talk about the difference between a palatal consonant and a palatalized consonant--for the Wikipedia entry on this topic, click here. The Diction Police podcast will start back up again at the end of August!

Episode 112-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2018 23:36


This will be our last episode for this season, and we wanted to do something special—so this will be our first Russian episode with a video tutorial! Ekaterina Sapega-Klein leads us through the text to Olga's aria from Yevgeniy Onegin, talking about devoicing consonants, palatalized consonants, and what happens when a soft sign meets a vowel that starts with a j-glide. This is the audio version of the video tutorial. In the episode I talk about the difference between a palatal consonant and a palatalized consonant--for the Wikipedia entry on this topic, click here. The Diction Police podcast will start back up again at the end of August!

Diction Tip #31

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 28, 2018 3:37


Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #31, François Germain interviews Ellen Rissinger about the [æ] vowel in English lyric diction. For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of our Facebook page or you can find all of our Diction Lessons, Diction Tips and Tongue Twisters for Singers at www.dictionpolice.com!

Episode 111-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2018 15:08


In this episode, baritone Christoph Pohl works through the text to "Ich grolle nicht" with us, talking about Ach- and Ich-lauts, a little bit about glottals, and painting the text by using all of the consonants. We also mention the problematic letter 'L' in German—we recently posted a Diction Lesson on this topic, so if you haven't seen that yet, make sure to check it out!   For more information, go to dictionpolice.com ! 

Episode 111-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2018 15:09


In this episode, baritone Christoph Pohl works through the text to "Ich grolle nicht" with us, talking about Ach- and Ich-lauts, a little bit about glottals, and painting the text by using all of the consonants. We also mention the problematic letter 'L' in German—we recently posted a Diction Lesson on this topic, so if you haven't seen that yet, make sure to check it out! This is the audio version of the video tutorial.   For more information, go to dictionpolice.com ! 

Diction Tip #30

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2018 3:14


Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #30, Bernhard Hansky talks about the assimilation of the consonants 't', 'd', and 'z' in German Diction. For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of our Facebook page or you can find all of our Diction Lessons, Diction Tips and Tongue Twisters for Singers at www.dictionpolice.com!

Episode 110-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2018 21:32


The Diction Police is just starting its 9th year! Thank you for being a part of it! This week my partner-in-crime, François Germain, talks about Sophie's aria from Werther, "Frère voyez... Du gai soleil", with an emphasis on consonants that should not be pronounced by often are accidentally, the spelling OY, and how to avoid stressing unstressed syllables. This is the audio version of the video tutorial. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com ! 

Episode 110-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 7, 2018 21:32


The Diction Police is just starting its 9th year! Thank you for being a part of it! This week my partner-in-crime, François Germain, talks about Sophie's aria from Werther, "Frère voyez... Du gai soleil", with an emphasis on consonants that should not be pronounced by often are accidentally, the spelling OY, and how to avoid stressing unstressed syllables.  For more information, go to dictionpolice.com ! 

Diction Tip #29

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 31, 2018 6:19


Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #29, Dr. François Germain talks about the pronunciation of the letter 'h' in French Diction. For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of our Facebook page or you can find all of our Diction Lessons, Diction Tips and Tongue Twisters for Singers at www.dictionpolice.com!

Episode 109-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 24, 2018 17:25


Vocal coach Matteo Pais works through the text to Händel's "Ombra mai fu" from Serse with us, talking about open and closed vowels, glides and diphthongs, and a little about the sound of Italian! For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

Episode 109-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 24, 2018 17:21


Vocal coach Matteo Pais works through the text to Händel's "Ombra mai fu" from Serse with us, talking about open and closed vowels, glides and diphthongs, and a little about the sound of Italian! For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

Episode 108-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2018 17:01


In Episode 108, Christoph Pohl works through the text to "An die Musik" with us, discussing the open, flying [ʊ], spitting consonants, and how to get the consonants to be part of the legato. This is the audio version of the video tutorial. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

Episode 108-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2018 16:55


In Episode 108, Christoph Pohl works through the text to "An die Musik" with us, discussing the open, flying [ʊ], spitting consonants, and how to get the consonants to be part of the legato. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

Diction Tip #28

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2018 1:38


Since I am still recovering from the flu, we're a little off-schedule. This week will be another Diction Tip, and then the next two weeks will be the regular podcast. Thanks for your understanding! In Diction Tip #28, Matteo Pais talks about initial 's' in Italian Diction. For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of our Facebook page or you can find all of our Diction Lessons, Diction Tips and Tongue Twisters for Singers at www.dictionpolice.com!

Diction Tip #27

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2018 1:55


Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #27, Bernhard Hansky talks about the number 4 in all of its forms (1/4, 14, 40) in German Diction. For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of our Facebook page or you can find all of our Diction Lessons, Diction Tips and Tongue Twisters for Singers at www.dictionpolice.com!

Episode 107-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2018 20:22


This week, Dr. François Germain and I talk about the text to "Que fais-tu, blanche tourterelle" from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, with a lot of focus on French grammar and how that can affect pronunciation! This is the audio version of the full video tutorial.   For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

Episode 107-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2018 20:27


This week, Dr. François Germain and I talk about the text to "Que fais-tu, blanche tourterelle" from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, with a lot of focus on French grammar and how that can affect pronunciation!   For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

Diction Tip #26

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2018 4:23


Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #26, Dr. François Germain discusses the pronunciation of the third person plural verb ending "-ent". For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of our Facebook page or you can find all of our Diction Lessons, Diction Tips and Tongue Twisters for Singers at www.dictionpolice.com!

Episode 106-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2018 20:15


In Episode 106, Simone di Felice and I work through "Come raggio di sol" by Antonio Caldara, paying special attention to phrasal diphthongs (that is, when vowels come together between words), the pronunciation of the spelling GI, and some words with intervocalic Ss that are technically considered unvoiced but become voiced in Italian lyric diction. This is the audio version of the full video tutorial.   For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

Episode 106-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2018 20:15


In Episode 106, Simone di Felice and I work through "Come raggio di sol" by Antonio Caldara, paying special attention to phrasal diphthongs (that is, when vowels come together between words), the pronunciation of the spelling GI, and some words with intervocalic Ss that are technically considered unvoiced but become voiced in Italian lyric diction.    For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

Diction Tip #25

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2018 3:41


Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In this Diction Tip, vocal coach Matteo Pais talks about how to pronounce those three letter words like "mio", "dio", "tuo" and "sua" in Italian! For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of our Facebook page or you can find all of our Diction Lessons, Diction Tips and Tongue Twisters for Singers at www.dictionpolice.com!

Episode 105-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2018 24:52


In this episode, Dr. François Germain and I discuss the text to Paul Verlaine's "Clair de lune", which has been set by many composers, focusing on mixed vowels, the phonetic [k] sound, and some of the digraphs that make up French spelling. This is the audio version of the video tutorial.   For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

Episode 105-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2018 24:43


In this episode, Dr. François Germain and I discuss the text to Paul Verlaine's "Clair de lune", which has been set by many composers, focusing on mixed vowels, the phonetic [k] sound, and some of the digraphs that make up French spelling.   For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

Episode 104-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 2, 2017 29:45


In this episode, diction coach Elizabeth Brodovitch introduces us to the Auvergnat language, through the text to "Baïlero", one of the Chants d'Auvergne by Canteloube. This is the audio version--the full video tutorial is available at  dictionpolice.com !

Episode 104-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 2, 2017 29:45


In this episode, diction coach Elizabeth Brodovitch introduces us to the Auvergnat language, through the text to "Baïlero", one of the Chants d'Auvergne by Canteloube.    For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

Diction Tip #24

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 25, 2017 2:52


Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In this Diction Tip on Phrasal Doubling in Italian Lyric Diction, Matteo Pais explains how to handle it when several vowels come together on one pitch. For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of our Facebook page or you can find all of our Diction Lessons, Diction Tips and Tongue Twisters for Singers at www.dictionpolice.com!

Episode 103-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 18, 2017 17:52


Matteo Pais talks through the text to "Quando me'n vo'", Musetta's aria from La Bohème with us, talking about double and single consonants, some standard closed [e] endings, and pitching voiced consonants and glides.  For more information, go to dictionpolice.com

Episode 103-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 18, 2017 18:32


Matteo Pais talks through the text to "Quando me'n vo'", Musetta's aria from La Bohème with us, talking about double and single consonants, some standard closed [e] endings, and pitching voiced consonants and glides.  For more information, go to dictionpolice.com

Diction Tip #23

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2017 4:13


Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #23, Dr. François Germain talks about the difference between "elision" and "liaison" in French Diction. For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of our Facebook page or you can find all of our Diction Lessons, Diction Tips and Tongue Twisters for Singers at www.dictionpolice.com!

Episode 102-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2017 25:33


Since it's Messiah season, we wanted to post another aria for the basses! Jason Nedecky works through the text to "The people that walked in darkness" and it's preceding recitative, with an emphasis on handling 'r', the [æ] vowel, and aspirate 't'. This is the audio version of the video tutorial. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com

Episode 102-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2017 26:49


Since it's Messiah season, we wanted to post another aria for the basses! Jason Nedecky works through the text to "The people that walked in darkness" and it's preceding recitative, with an emphasis on handling 'r', the [æ] vowel, and aspirate 't'.  For more information, go to dictionpolice.com

Diction Tip #22

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2017 3:16


Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #22, Bernhard Hansky discusses the concept of Auslautverhärtung (hardening of the final consonant) in German Diction. For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of our Facebook page or you can find all of our Diction Lessons, Diction Tips and Tongue Twisters for Singers at www.dictionpolice.com!

Episode 101-SDU Tutorial (Audio version)

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2017 26:34


In Episode 101, Dr. François Germain and I talk about the text to "En fermant les yeux", the tenor aria from Massenet's Manon, focusing on nasal vowels and some normal spellings that may look complicated. This is the audio version of the podcast. For all of The Diction Police's resources, come to dictionpolice.com!

Episode 101-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2017 26:33


In Episode 101, Dr. François Germain and I talk about the text to "En fermant les yeux", the tenor aria from Massenet's Manon, focusing on nasal vowels and some normal spellings that may look complicated.  For all of The Diction Police's resources, come to dictionpolice.com!

Diction Tip #21

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 14, 2017 1:52


Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #21, vocal coach Matteo Pais talks about final vowels in Italian Lyric Diction. For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of our Facebook page or you can find all of our Diction Lessons, Diction Tips and Tongue Twisters for Singers at www.dictionpolice.com!

Episode 100-IPA Revealed: an audio guide

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 7, 2017 19:28


For our 100th episode we wanted to do something really special, and here it is! In "IPA Revealed: an audio-guide" we work our way through the phonetic alphabet, with examples of native speakers in each of the four main languages that we sing in, English, Italian, German, and French.  Both Ellen and François host the episode, with guests Christoph Pohl, Daniela Pellegrino, and Grace Durham. There is no audio version of the podcast this week. To see our complete catalog of text readings by native speakers and PDFs with IPA transcriptions, poetic and word-for-word-translations, as well as all of our Diction Lessons, Diction Tips, and Tongue Twisters for Singers, go to dictionpolice.com

Diction Tip #20

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2017 4:29


Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #20, Ellen Rissinger talks about shadow vowels in English Lyric Diction. For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of our Facebook page or you can find all of our Diction Lessons, Diction Tips and Tongue Twisters for Singers at www.dictionpolice.com!

Episode 99-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2017 22:56


This week, Mirko Roschkowski is with us to discuss the first song in Die schöne Müllerin, "Das Wandern". We talk about how to handle strophic texts, as well as long and short vowels and the different possible pronunciations of R. This week's Diction Lesson on the Facebook page also covered the topic of R, so please check that out, too!   For more information, go to dictionpolice.com

Episode 99-SDU Tutorial

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2017 22:57


This week, Mirko Roschkowski is with us to discuss the first song in Die schöne Müllerin, "Das Wandern". We talk about how to handle strophic texts, as well as long and short vowels and the different possible pronunciations of R. This week's Diction Lesson on the Facebook page also covered the topic of R, so please check that out, too!   For more information, go to dictionpolice.com

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